On-Ride Photography: Out of Control

I think CP needs to be a lot more stringent on this rule. If they go through the hassle of stopping a ride, they should follow through. Take the media (memory stick or film), escort the offender to the exit, and boot them from the park. No questions.

If all they do is stop the ride and "yell" at the person, that does NO good. Actually, I can imagine most kids thinking that was cool and doing it again just to get "stopped" on the coaster. I mean really, they got their pic, they got to be stopped on a lift or in a brake run, and now they have something to "brag" about on the internet. Why wouldn't they do it again.

However, if they lost ALL their pictures, got escorted out of the park AND lost their entrance fee, I think they'd not do it again.

While Disney's safety rules are not as direct and visible as Cedar Point's, they do have "no on-ride" rules for many attractions, including Tower of Terror, Mission Space, Test Track, and Carousel of Progress.

The culture at WDW does seem different, though, and the rules aren't always enforced on attractions. There's even debate in WDW fan circles on whether the attractions listed above have rules. Usually the response is, "they don't mind."

Even in cyberspace, it's a different world. There's a lot of content on some Disney fan sites that wouldn't fly on Cedar Point sites, including on-ride video from attractions that prohibit it, and all kinds of park music, video, and other blatant copyright violations. Whether Disney doesn't care, doesn't want to enforce it, can't enforce it ... I don't know.

*** Edited 10/10/2006 3:04:10 AM UTC by Walt***

A kid ridding TTD got kicked off last night for having his cell phone camera out, he was going to ride the front car on the red train,and the ride host kicked him off, i saw quite a few guys holding there cell phone cameras this past weekend, yes something must be done.
*** Edited 10/9/2006 11:37:14 PM UTC by brieeee***

halltd said:
I think CP needs to be a lot more stringent on this rule. If they go through the hassle of stopping a ride, they should follow through. Take the media (memory stick or film), escort the offender to the exit, and boot them from the park. No questions.

All the photos on the camera are the legal property of the person who takes them, as is the memory card/film.

They cannot legally take them.

They can ask you to delete them though, which is what is often done.

What I don't get is the blatant disregard for sanity amongst society these days. It's not just this issue, but many others. Oh, I'll take my camera out on a ride and hope to not let it "accidentally" fly out of my hands at 40mph+?? How does that work? That and, wouldn't you want to take much better care of an investment such as a camera, or is it just me? At times it seems I am (one of) the only same person (people) on this planet.

It's rude.

It's disresepctful.

It royally pisses people off.

It demonstrates an extreme lake of competence.

It needs to be turned into a much more serious offense.

Going to Cedar Point is a privilege which should be treated as such. It is the duty of all park guests to properly treat the park and to not causes disturbances in the days of fellow guests. Is it that hard to comprehend?

Okay, there's my rant for the night. Well, hopefully my only, anyway...

topthrilldragster4lyf said:
Going to Cedar Point is a privilege which should be treated as such.

They'll go out of business very fast with that philosophy.

Visiting Cedar Point isn't like voting- it is nowhere stated that you have "undeniable rights" to attend the park. They have signs posted all over just like nearly every other establishment in the country stating that "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone". Granted, advertising and strictly enforcing this policy is a poor business decision, but, nevertheless, they can if they need to. Kicking a person out of the park is serious business. I think a verbal warning would do just fine in those situations.

Interestingly enough, one of Cedar Point's training manuals (I think it was the general Park Op one, not anything ride specific) said that if you saw a camera out on the lift of a coaster, you could spiel to the lift, but to stop the lift would create a sitation more dangerous than the camera itself creates in the first place.

With 36 people stopped on a lift scared, an op running up there, taking the camera, and running back down, I tend to agree with the old thinking. To me there seems to be more risk involved with that than one guy with a camera that has a slim chance of losing his camera in the first place and an even slimer chance that it will hit someone even if he does let it go.

In this case safety is more important than capacity, but there's an argument to be made for just letting it go in certain cases.

I couldn't disagree more.

I don't know if anyone had said this yet, but it's against Ohio's law to have somekind of electronic device out on a ride even an iPod or mp3 player.

Sounds like an antiquated law. What about pacemakers and insulin pumps?

Ohio law requires all guests to obey all posted and verbal rules set by the park. If someone has a problem with having their pictures deleted and being ejected from the park they can always be prosecuted.

^^^ - Krafty kinda answered your question. The Ohio laws is a little bit vague, in that its a catch all. You must follow all posted and verbal rules. The "I didn't know" excuse is a BS one, it is the responsibility of each rider to know the rules of a particular ride. You may say this is crazy, but we require each and every driver to know the rules AND the "I didn't know" defense doesn't work in that situation.

Now, what would be pretty funny is for a spieler to state that riders must keep their hands over their eyes at all times. Technically, it then becomes a violation of OSC to not have your hands over your eyes.

Personally, I think CP's camera rule is antiquated and really makes absolutely no sense at all. This is a situation where the rules have not kept up with the technology, and the result is causing all kinds of problems. Spare me the loose object spiel; how is an 8 ounce camera any more hazardous than a 5 pound purse? And the camera these days quite often IS the cell phone. Experience suggests that someone who is holding on to his cell phone is less likely to lose it than someone who forgot that it was clipped to his belt. Hand-holding isn't the best way to secure it, but it beats some of the common alternatives. So why is it okay to hang on to the wallet, keys, sunglasses and cell phone, but it suddenly becomes a major issue if the object being held happens to be a camera?

And Matt is absolutely right, that dealing with someone who is trying to circumvent the rules creates a bigger hazard than the guy with the camera creates.

Fifteen years ago, when this first became an issue, video cameras weighed about ten pounds, were about the size of a small suitcase, were intended to be carried on the shoulder, and were suddenly being hauled around by every fourth person on the midway. (And yes, I have shot on-board coaster footage with a camera like that, just not at CP). Today, you can get significantly better pictures out of a camera that weighs less than a pound, and fits in the palm of your hand with room to spare. And nearly every person in the park has one. There is no way to keep this stuff off of the rides, and there is no practical way to keep people from using it. That's the bad news. The good news is that because of the developments in the technology, there is also almost no hazard involved with this equipment anymore, either.

Assuming that the park's real concern is ride safety, the real solution is to forget about photography altogether. Photography is not a special activity, and a camera is not a special class of cargo. The issue is that riders need to secure their stuff using the best means available, and anything that gets dropped and/or destroyed is not the park's problem. That's all there is to it, and there is absolutely no reason to single out cameras as a particular source of trouble.

In fact, I suspect cameras would be less of an actual hazard if people weren't trying to sneak them in and out of hiding places on lift hills and brake runs. If someone is going to use a camera on a ride, I would much rather that he secure the strap to himself before the ride starts rather than try to fumble with it up in the air.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(no, none of my on-ride video was shot at Cedar Point.)

Does anyone remember the woman on The Villain at the Geauga Lake (then Six Flags) that got nailed in the face with a phone from someone further up in the train? Do you remember the million dollar lawsuit or the half-dozen surgeries that still didn't totally restore her face?

I think it's pretty reasonable to prohibit any loose articles.

^ - Dave kinda hit it, but I think you hit it best. No loose articles, period.

RideMan said:
how is an 8 ounce camera any more hazardous than a 5 pound purse?

Well, when you figure that a purse-face collision consists of two soft, or deformable, objects, while a camera/phone-face collision only has one, the difference in the amount of potential hazard becomes quite obvious. Sure, the 5 lb purse may give you a headache, but its not going to break anything other than maybe your nose (unless its filled with rocks or something). A camera, on the other hand, has the potential to rearrange your face altogether under the right circumstances.

I must be the only person that goes to parks with nothing. LOL!! I have a wallet in my cargo pocket and ONE key for my car in a zippered pocket. If I happen to have sunglasses or a phone, they go in the other cargo pocket. No loose articles for me.

I almost got hit in the face with a cell phone on Nitro at SF Great Adventure. That thing hit the seat next to me and burst into pieces. I would NOT have wanted that hitting me in the face, that's for sure. I tend to sit in the last row of coasters, so I'm a target for anything and everything that flies off of people on rides. It sucks.

^ - I'm just about the same way. I usually keep my keys back at the cabin, and my hat either goes in a cargo pocket or down my shirt. The sunglasses are strapped on and stay that way all day rain or shine. And trust me, at 72 mph, sun glasses are your friend in the rain.